Residential Program Creates “SaintA’s Family Song”

The six-week program culminated this week in a number of finished recordings, which were burned onto CDs and given to the Residential (Res) boys to keep for themselves or give to their families. The boys who participated ranged in age from 5 and 6 year olds to teenagers. The tracks they produced ranged from county to pop to rap.

Creating music – and relationships – from scratch

Each week, about a dozen Res boys worked with students from the Homestead High School club SHIFT (“Students Helping Impact Foster Teens”) on everything from stage names and dance moves to lyrics and electronic beats. If it had to do with music, it happened at Beat Lab.

While some boys created audio of themselves singing along with popular groups like The Weekend, others laid down new vocals to standbys like “Livin’ on a Prayer,” or more obscure tracks, such as the original “Star Wars Rap.” In all cases, the boys worked alongside the SHIFT students and adults like Mobile Beat Lab creator Aaron Heffernan and beat-master Hilton Morris.

Special thanks to SaintA Res staff who provided support each week and in many cases, contributed their own music or dance skills. The biggest thanks of all goes to SHIFT, for generously sponsoring the Mobile Beat Lab.

Perhaps the most notable track to come out of the program is “SaintA’s Family Song,” which features original lyrics and hand-picked beats, and is voiced by a Res boy whose personal story inspired the music. You can listen to that track below.